Transcript

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>> 16-year-old Ibrahim drowned just off the coast of Egypt, when the boat he was in capsized in April. He was 1 of up to 150 Egyptian boys who said goodbye to their friends and family and boarded a ship bound for Italy. Also joined by hundreds of African migrants, around 500 people died, making it one of the biggest disasters in the Mediterranean this year.

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But the Reuters investigation in collaboration with BBC Newsnight has found that no official body has held anyone to account for the deaths, or even opened an inquiry. Reuters Egypt correspondent Amina Ismail met with one of the fathers who decided to take matters into his own hands.>> Abdahabda Hamid hired a lawyer and filed a complaint with the police in Alexandria, along with eight other families of missing boys.

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The complaint led to a trivial police investigation which resulted in six people being found guilty of fraud in absentia. But the investigation wasn't taken any further. And no Egyptian authority had looked in to the shipwreck itself.>> With the help of some fishermen, Abdul Hamid managed to track down the smuggling ring.

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The owners of the boat that capsized got in touch with him.>> All they wanted was that we give up the case in exchange for a lot of money. They told me whatever amount you ask for, you will get, but just drop the case. But what am I dropping?

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Am I going to sell my son? Of course not. I will not drop anything. And I will not leave them alone. I have nothing else to do but keep after them. I'll be right here until all of them go to prison, and are handed their sentences.>> The families who've lost their sons are vowing to keep searching for answers.

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In the meantime, Reuters has found that smugglers continue to operate off the coast of Egypt.>> Up until last month, there have been ships setting sail from Egypt, and this is partial because the ring leaders, the gang leaders are still on the loose. A senior broker who was involved in the April ship, told us that this time the smugglers have learned their lesson.

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They no longer take Egyptian immigrants on board. According to the broker, they just African and Syrian migrants because the broker says if any of them die nobody would notice.